Upside Down (COMPLETE) Inside Out, Book 2 [BoyxBoy]

Nathan

"It's becoming more pointless, you know... should've just kissed him the moment I want to."

It was nice having Colby's company; apart from him feeling safer than before, he finally had someone to express about his conflicting romance he had with Keith. Nathan was not one to bottle things up to himself, and he swore he'd go insane if Colby was even a second late showing himself up in his life.

"Well, as much as I really want you two to kiss—fuck, both of you are just the cutest thing in the world it's impossible!—having to seal the deal with your mate can also put you at risk, you know?"

"Last time, the cutest couple in the world award belonged to Jace and Jordan," Nathan said to Colby. "Anyway, I haven't kissed him yet, we still don't have the mate bond, and yet I still showed up in their shit oracle thing?"

"Who knows, the bond that you have with him hasn't sealed, but that doesn't mean it's nonexistent. Clearly from what you told me, your psychic powers are only starting to get stronger the more you're with Keith." Nathan observed as Colby fished out something out of his pants pocket; a compact powder. Colby swished his wand and a bluish holographic image floated in the air. In it were random red dots, some of them were in static and some of them blinked slowly.

Colby brought the tip of his wand to the image, pointing out at an empty spot. "See right here? This is Washington D.C., and the oracle has lost detection of you. It comes and goes occasionally, and I myself am not sure why. But losing and gaining detection will not stop the fucked up magicians from coming here."

Nathan considered himself lucky to have Colby as an ally. They secretly made a deal; Nathan to not tell anyone about Colby joining a secret wizarding army fighting against the circle of magicians that were hunting psychics, and Colby to keep his mouth shut about Nathan mating with Keith. Nathan had an easy part of the deal, while Colby hated it. If possible, he wanted to gush and gossip about Nathan and Keith to everyone. But Colby had spelled the deal on them; if any of them even attempted to break the promise, their tongue would literally freeze.

Nathan obviously didn't want to have any mate bond first with Keith due to the threat that'd come if they were ever to kiss each other. Colby's parents would go ballistic if they ever found out about him joining some secret circle of wizards being a minor. Plus, Nathan also learned about the tough discrimination that could happen to wizards like Colby—magicians were supposed to be mortal, but Colby was both immortal and capable of wielding magic. Some wizards secretly developed internal prejudices towards immortals including werewolves, and most probably they were just jealous. Wizards usually die undergoing a Change if bitten by shape-shifters, and most of the time a fetus of half-magic and immortal will not survive during conception. Colby was apparently one of a kind, a wizard that could still switch form from a human figure to a werewolf due to his lineage, the only one in his family tree.

Nathan would have never thought he'd get closer to a person like Colby, despite having him for years visiting the pack almost every summer. He felt quite bad for suspecting Colby as one of the bad ones before.

The small talk was done at Nathan's house before Colby had to prepare convoying Jace and the rest of the pack to Greenfield Park for the Combat. Nathan had to ride with Dan, Jace, Rick and Callan, basically becoming Jace's main escort to the venue. It was the same scene every year, except it was a bit relaxing this time around as they weren't required to travel far for the game. God, how Nathan hated long-distance trips, and how he wished the Combat would be held in DC as a fixed location.

As they drove up the hill, Nathan observed the trees around Greenfield Park; the trunks looked bigger and sturdier than the ones they had at home, and there were more hills and steeper grounds that could be good for recreation and workout. He liked the place; sometimes he and the boys would drive here before full moon as their own personal stamina practice. He wondered what it'd feel like to run around the hills with Keith without having any threat sharing intimacy and love with the one he was destined for.